Nursing Shortage!! It's real and it bites (new grads, can't find a job? Read this post!)

[klone]

I had no idea, when I took a job as a nurse manager of an inpatient unit at a rural hospital that's 4 hours away from the nearest large city, that a huge portion of my job stress would come from the fact that we DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH NURSES!!

Every unit at our facility has job openings. We have dozens of travelers. My department basically has just enough nurses to cover core staffing. What that means is - if there's a sick call, or a PTO request, or a medical leave of absence, we're short.

Thank Dog that my unit is awesome and they are a team and a family and are invested in the unit, because when we're short, the nurses pull together and volunteer to take OT and work 16 hour shifts.

The point of this post...if you're a new grad, and you can't find a job because the market is so competitive and every place is wanting a BSN...consider relocating! Look for those facilities that are in rural communities, or small towns that are >2 hours away from the nearest metro area that probably has multiple schools and a steady stream of new grad nurses to fill positions.

Coming from Denver, I had no idea that there really were places in the US that had shortages, but it's true, and it sucks. For patients, for communities, and for the nurses who are working short-staffed or working 60-hour work weeks because, well, we have no other options.

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

Klone,

I've been thinking about your troubles. Prior to becoming an NP, I was a business executive and also had to do a lot of recruiting. Since you are in a coastal Oregon city, that is a huge draw. Don't listen to the naysayers. I went to high school in a small town on the California coast and none of the kids complained about nothing to do. There were tons of outdoor recreation activities, along with community activities. We also had bars, restaurants, and adequate shopping. Nowadays everyone shops online, anyway.

However, you may wish to work with your HR department to come up with some creative recruiting strategies that address your hiring obstacles.

1. It appears a big issue is housing. It doesn't matter how much you pay or how wonderful the job and area is, people must live somewhere. Do some brainstorming with HR on ways to address this. You state the hospital uses a lot of travelers. Where are they staying? Here are some of my thoughts:

+ Negotiate cheap rates with local hotels and motels

+ Work with the city government and local entrepreneurs to set up housing for RNs and other healthcare professionals

+ Set up temporary housing such as mobile homes

+ Work with the local community to encourage people to rent out spare rooms

+ The hospital can also buy/build housing

+ Offer assistance in helping new hires find housing. You can make arrangements with some local realtors and property management companies.

+ There must be some relo $ for perm hires. $3,000 to $5,000 for a new grad is a reasonable sum.

2. Since you are in a small town, you have to get the word out. There are plenty of people who would love to live in coastal Oregon. Go to nursing school job fairs all over the Western US. You can also work remotely with nursing schools in the Midwest and East Coast.

3. Have good recruiting materials that "sell" your town and the hospital. Pictures are great. Put a video on your recruiting website. Include things like recreation, shopping, dining, nearby cities and attractions, schools, career advancement and training, incentives like sign on, etc. For new grads, stress activities for young single people and socializing opportunities. View this as a sales and marketing task.

4. Know what programs are available for new grads at your hospital. Does the hospital qualify for state and/or federal loan repayment and forgiveness? If so, that is a huge selling point! Your hospital can also put together some incentives:

- new grad residency/training

- sign on bonus

- relo and help finding housing

- hospital loan repayment program

- retention bonus

- any state and/or federal loan repayment and/or forgiveness program eligibility

- would your hospital fulfill service requirements for Nurse Corps scholars or a similar state program? If so, that is also a huge selling point to new grads who must fulfill public service.

5. If your hospital qualifies for loan repayment programs, utilize the state and federal job search sites to advertise your openings like the BHW Health Workforce Connector and their Virtual Job Fairs.

https://allnurses.com/new-grad-np-how-t667457/

6. I know there are websites for recruiting rural providers, so research if there are similar sites for recruiting rural RNs.

7. Utilize all the internet job posting sites.

8. Work with some good RN recruiters. Good outside contingency recruiters are a blessing.

Good luck!

[UnicoRN93]

Ever since we went to self scheduling, our nurses chose to be off on certain days (like weekends) so these days run chronically short staffed. It also takes a long time to on board someone fully if they are a new grad, so we still run short in the meantime

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

I am currently working in a small hospital, and I can tell you our biggest recruitment problem is LOW PAY. We can't compete with larger hospitals with tuition/loan reimbursement, relocation expenses, sign-on bonuses, etc.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I truly appreciate those of you who took the time to offer ideas and suggestions. I will pass these on to HR. A lot of the suggestions, we are already doing (sign-on bonuses, loan forgiveness). Some of it is beyond what we can do as a facility (we need rental housing!!). I wish I could win the lottery and build a nice apartment complex that would just be rented to hospital employees. I know our facility has lost some good nurse candidates, as well as several travelers, due to difficulty finding housing (I feel like a lot of the travelers have RVs and live in an RV park while they work here).

This really is a beautiful area, there just isn't a lot as far as amenities, things for young adults to do, shopping, restaurants, etc. But if you love outdoors, love hiking and enjoy cool weather, it's amazing here.

Today I spent the day weeding my garden and tending to the flowers that are all starting to bloom. Meanwhile, my best friend back in Denver is indoors because it's freezing and snowing!

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

DS22 MS said:

Thanks. Because of back taxes liens from a personal business that went south I'm ineligible for assistance scholarship-wise with them. I don't have any drug or criminal records or other legal issues.

So, It's a tough spot I'm in financially. Without a cert like an MA/CNA etc. I'm just not getting traction job wise in health care. I apply to anything that will get me in a hospital/clinic to get experience but it's uneventful. The Patient Transporter gig after two interviews seemed like I finally had a break. The two interviewers were glowing, repeating "impressive, impressive." Then the robo email sent out at midnight saying they went with someone else.

Despite my past accomplishments and current potential it isn't enough (so far) to garner help with loans (at this point) to survive 1st year nursing school -even if I get accepted.

I substitute teach 7th grade science but the calls are infrequent and rare. The instructors rate me highly and I do a great job but it's not a steady gig. I'm currently in pharmacology and pathophysiology so I'm busy on time but would scrape and claw to make time for a position somewhere that would be in a hospital or clinic to help.

The federal student loan max currently is JUST enough to pay rent for a year which is sad. In CA my room for rent is $800/mo (which is a great deal in SoCal). I know that's a mortgage for some people but I have no choice.

I recently did approach a couple expensive schools here and they have loans available but only for tuition. That's it. Having prior degrees eliminate you from Pell Grants.

I would attend nursing school out of state if someone/a hospital was willing to invest in me. If I had to sign in for a multi year commitment in exchange for nursing school and financial support to attend, I would be on the next flight to be there. I want to work AND be an RN. I'm very driven but not knowledgeable/ignorant about who, what, where to go and talk to in nursing to make it all happen.

I'm grateful to any ideas and support. I've been going solo for some time so it's all welcomed.

Thanks all.

I suggest you start a separate thread. If you have back tax liens you need to get those cleared up. I suggest you find an Enrolled Agent (EA) to help you with this. These are CPAs that have completed additional training to be certified to help with tax troubles. They are usually former IRS or state tax professionals. When my exhusband died, the IRS and some state governments came after me for what he owed. Working with an EA, it got negotiated way down, but I still had to pay off $50K, which I did in 5 years by working my butt off and living a very simple life.

You can also work on repairing your credit by paying down or settling debt and making all payments on time from now on. I've used First Stone Credit Counseling, which a repair group, not a debt consolidation group, in the past.

Yes, you do have to have certifications to work in patient care. It is not that expensive to get a CNA - you can do this through the Red Cross or a community college. There are also adult education centers that provide this training.

You can obtain your ADN through a community college, and community colleges are cheap in California. It is quite possible to work one's way through an ADN program. You can start with an LPN, then get an RN. Maybe you need to work hard for a couple of years and save some money, then go to an ADN program. Just get a full time job, any job, for now.

Go to a community college near you and ask to speak with someone about their nursing program and financing options. California community colleges also provide training for other health occupations, like Medical Assistant, Medical Scribe, Surgical Tech, etc. Ask the community college what health programs they have. Since you live in SoCal, you can go to any community college that you can get to, so be prepared to drive around!

[K9lover, ASN, RN]

SoCa is definitely saturated. I saw posts on FB for the county I live in offering $10 less than I made in 1999 for experienced RNs. They are jumping all over it, I leave FB comments to myself.

Half the hospitals in L.A. are Kaiser and they just use 'perpetual travelers' rather than pay benefits.

[Guest849204]

It varies by location and even hospital to hospital (no one wants to work at a place known to be a bad place to work) but I do not believe there is a national nurse shortage at this time. That said, there are definitely "shortages" within most hospitals in the sense that their nurse:patient ratios are too high, but that has nothing to do with the amount of nurses available (at least not directly).

[Guest849204]

Also, some advice to nurses looking for a job: If your main reason for switching jobs is salary, make sure you are taking into account living expenses. Even though your salary would be hire if you move to a particular city/state, you might be making less after you factor in higher taxes and all the cost of living expenses.

[Sour Lemon]

DS22 MS said:

I have seen job postings in local hospitals here in SoCal for RN positions (A BUNCH OF THEM) but wanting 3+ years & vast experience. I wonder why they don't fill. Seems like they want a seasoned nurse for pennies and will hold out until they get someone. It seems that way.

I'm in your area, and from what I've observed, those positions do fill. People also move around a lot, though. Their needs change, and new positions are always opening up.

As an employer, it makes more sense to hire an experienced nurse that can hit the ground running. Experienced nurses and new grads will often move on quickly, but one costs more money and requires more effort to get trained and functional.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Sour Lemon said:

As an employer, it makes more sense to hire an experienced nurse that can hit the ground running. Experienced nurses and new grads will often move on quickly, but one costs more money and requires more effort to get trained and functional.

Wholeheartedly agree. In our case, experienced nurses typically don't drop out of the sky, so we must invest in our new grads or we would have no nursing workforce at all.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

klone said:

No no no!! I feel like nobody's listening to what I'm saying. They're just repeating their own version of what they believe to be true.

Spanked, I'm not saying what you're describing never happens. But that is simply not the reality in many places.

You say facilities would rather pay OT to staff than hire more nurses. Hire more nurses from WHERE?? Where are these nurses we're CHOOSING not to hire because we'd rather work our current staff until they're sick, exhausted, or burnt to a crisp?

This is what I'm trying to tell you - there ARE no nurses applying for these jobs because there are no nurses. Every new grad is snatched up, but there are not enough to take the place of those who are retiring or moving out of the community.

Why don't they start hiring LVNs as well?

[klone, MSN, RN]

OrganizedChaos said:

Why don't they start hiring LVNs as well?

Because there are even fewer LPNs ("LVN" is only in CA and TX, all other states have LPNs) in the community than RNs. There is no LPN program within hours of where we live.

Also, from the standpoint of practicality - LPNs can't work in L&D.